Thank you, Joseph Epstein, and The Wall Street Journal, for reminding us that sexism, elitism, and male mediocrity are alive and well. Just in case we had our heads in the protective sand for a moment, Epstein’s bloviation reminds us that America’s women, education systems, and educators, are devalued at every level. Hey, Dr. Kiddo […]
Current Events in Education
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
What Do We Make of All This? 10 Must-Read Research Articles on COVID & Schools
As we wade in the waters of COVID-19 and reopening our schools, here are some articles that give us evidence on what works and what doesn’t. Trauma: Trauma-Informed School Strategies During COVID-19 We all know schools are on the front lines of dealing with our collective trauma. This thorough guide from the National Child Traumatic […]
Posted inCOVID
A Student in my Class Has COVID, Now What?
Like most teachers, I had been managing to keep a level head regardless of the immense pressure I am under in today’s classroom climate. Doing my best to provide quality virtual, hybrid instruction; remain positive and upbeat for my students; and having an overall optimistic demeanor in the face of a deadly pandemic. So naturally, […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Compassionate Teaching is Key Especially During This Pandemic
Over the past few months, I’ve been noticing tweets from users about their teachers and their online class experiences. These two stood out to me in particular: teachers be like "i know these are troubling times" then be the trouble during the times — Jeffery Perkins (@JefferyxBball) November 29, 2020 A student just wrote “My […]
Posted inCOVID-19
James Gets a Grip on Losing: A Lesson for Today
By Julie Letofsky I’ve been thinking a lot this past week about James, a child in my second grade class years ago. James loved recess more than anything that went on in the classroom. Basketball, soccer, even just tossing a football – James lived for these activities. He was hyper-competitive; he HAD to be the […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Rebranding the Dreaded Essay: How to Demystify Essays and Make Them Meaningful During COVID-19
Whenever students hear the word “essay,” they groan, eye roll, and plead for something, anything else. Similarly, most adults I know remember high school or college essays they grudgingly finished just under the wire; late-night coffee, obsessive word counting, and a fair amount of teacher-specific bs-ing. It’s clear “The Essay” gets a bad rap, and […]
Posted inCOVID
This is Not the Way it Should Feel to Teach
What’s up with teaching. There is something amazing about that first sip of coffee on an almost cold enough to snow Sunday morning. Even at pretend 4:30 AM (because it’s still 5:30 real AMs to me), and at sixty-three real degrees in my living room, even though I have the thermostat set for what I […]
Posted inCoronavirus
A Final Lesson For Us All in Propaganda as a Teacher
Recently, a teacher in Paris named Samuel Paty was beheaded after giving a lesson on the importance of freedom of thought. With all going on in the news these days, I barely noticed it at first. Yet, as I wrote recently, a dangerous ideology that subverts free and intellectual discourse is growing and making inroads […]